We’re taking credit. It’s almost certainly unwarranted but we’ve got plausible credibility. So, hoop-dee-doo for GoToTell and much bigger, much more deserved huzzahs to the Tampa Downtown Partnership and CreativeTampaBay for bringing Portland, Oregon into this conversation.
About 10 days ago we woke up late to The Urban Charrette, which launched way back in April. Better late than never, we thought it was worth mentioning its collaborative approach to helping Tampa Bay develop as a more vibrant and liveable place. Since then we got to meet TUC co-directors Adam Fritz and Taryn Sabia and now we’re even more jacked up about this thing.
Here we’ve got a pair of twenty-something professional architects out working to transform Tampa Bay into a place where more of their kind will want to live. Local leaders should be lining up to give these two piggyback rides to and from work each day. Can we clean your pool, Ms. Sabia? How’s your drink, Mr. Fritz? In case you missed it, Tampa ranks about even with Hell as a preferred destination for young, creative professionals. Fritz, Sabia and TUC are exactly what’s needed to help turn that around.
Anyway, our post about TUC mentioned that any conversation about Tampa becoming more liveable should include a review of what Portland, Oregon did beginning way back in the 1970s. The Tampa Downtown Partnership and CreativeTampaBay seem to recognize this. They’re having economist Joe Cortright over to talk about Portland during lunch at the Hyatt Regency at One City Centre on Tuesday, Oct. 23rd. And you’re invited.
Cortright is the author of a white paper called Portland’s Green Dividend. Most white papers cause severe bleeding from the eyes in non-PhDs but this one ain’t bad.
Among other things, Portland established urban-growth boundaries to contain sprawl and built a light-rail system to improve transportation. Today, according to Cortright’s study, Portlanders drive 20 percent fewer miles each day compared to the average big-city American. That adds up to 2.9 billion car miles per year. At 40 cents per mile, that equals $1.1 billion saved or about 1.5 percent of Portland’s personal income.
In fact, Joe and Suzy Portland are probably sitting at some downtown restaurant right now (Portland, not coincidentally, has more bistros per capita than most major metros) saying, “Thank God we don’t live in Tampa. Can you imagine doing that God-awful commute every day? Let’s have another beer before we catch the train.”
Cortright’s study says that because Portland controlled sprawl and provided for better public transportation, its inhabitants spend less time commuting. The time they don’t spend crawling on their asses in commuter traffic each day is worth $1.5 billion per year, according to Cortright. Portlanders spend just 15.1 percent of their household budget on transportation, compared to the national average of 19.1 percent. But what’s a little money compared to the pleasure of hearing Tampa’s morning radio each day?
And here’s another fun fact straight from Cortright’s report: “Over the decade of the 1990s, the number of college-educated 25 to 34 year-olds increased 50 percent in the Portland metropolitan area - five times faster than in the nation as a whole, with the fastest increase in this age group being recorded in the city’s close-in neighborhoods … There’s strong evidence that this group chooses Portland, in part, because it is green.”
As for the environmental benefits of what Portland did, don’t get us started. Everyone knows Oregonians are a bunch of tree-huggin’ granola heads.